supporting the renovation of the cunningham center for the study of prints and drawings

The renovation of the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints and Drawings was announced in celebration of SCMA100. With more than 24,000 works on paper, the museum was quickly approaching storage capacity. Jan Fullgraf Golann ’71 and Joan Williams Rhame ’49 both understood that access to art and ideas are essential to a Smith education. They knew that having storage in the same location as those art pieces on view would allow the museum to further enhance access. Their support expands the learning opportunities that the extraordinary collection housed in the Cunningham Center affords.

The renovation, which is nearing completion, ensures that our entire collection can remain on site and more readily accessible to our campus, students, visiting alumnae and the wider community. We are also updating the space with new technologies that will enhance object-based teaching and learning, putting SCMA at the forefront of art appreciation and understanding.

This renovation enables new pedagogical practices, informed by the college’s recent research into state-of-the-art classrooms. The Cunningham Center's 2022 reopening displayed:

• A projector and iPad that can project contextual information about artworks, such as related images, and process videos
• Zoom capabilities, so that staff and faculty can livestream guest speakers and also provide hybrid/virtual programming and teaching
• A new document camera allows us to project close-up images on a screen so students can see fine details of works on paper as part of a class discussion

This has been a monumental undertaking, complicated by the pandemic, which impacted everything from the project schedule to the availability of materials. With hard work, collaboration and creativity, the SCMA community has continued the renovation project, and soon all of those efforts will come to fruition. We are so grateful to the dedicated and resourceful team who have made this work possible.

above: Jan Fullgraf Golann ’71 with Abby R. Coffin, daughter of Joan Williams Rhame ’49, at the rededication of the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, October 20, 2022. Photo detail by Shana Sureck for SCMA